BJP will win majority of LS seats in Bengal in 2019: Javadekar
Kolkata, June 2: Pointing out that the BJP has made massive progress in West Bengal politics by emerging as the prime opposition party in the recent elections here, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday claimed the saffron outfit would capture the majority of the Lok Sabha seats in the state in the 2019 general elections.
"Politics in Bengal was lopsided. The Communist party ruled here for many years before Trinamool came to power. Even a few years back, BJP was the fourth or fifth largest party here. The biggest thing is we have successfully emerged as the main opposition here," Javadekar told media persons.
"Even in the rural areas, where we did not have even 50 seats earlier, we have captured 5,600 seats in the last election (rural body election). In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Bengal will see majority of seats going in BJP's favour," he said.
The BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh also accused the Bengal government of taking up a four-pronged strategy to rig the recent state rural polls and said the electorate would give the ruling party a befitting reply.
Referring to the killings of two BJP activists in Bengal's Purulia district in the last one week, he also accused the state government of not investigating these murder cases and thereby promoting the culture of political murders in the state.
"The government of West Bengal took up a four-pronged strategy to rig the three-pronged election. In the rural body elections they did not allow nominations to be filed, campaigns to be held, voters to vote or the electoral officers to count (votes) in many places," he accused.
"Political murders are going on day in and day out in West Bengal. Nineteen workers of BJP have been killed, the latest cases being those of Dulal Das and Trilochan Mahato. They were hanged. This is inhumane. The Bengal government is not investigating the murders at all. People will definitely teach a lesson to those who indulge in political murder culture," Javadekar said.
He rebuffed the claim by some local leaders that the two killings in Purulia were the outcome of infighting between the district BJP unit and the Bajrang Dal activists.
Responding to a question on the status of the ongoing CBI probe into the Saradha ponzi scam in which a number of Trinamool Congress leaders were named, the Union Human Resource Development Minister claimed everyone involved in the fraud will go to jail.
"We are not silent. The probe is on. The result will come out and everyone involved in Saradha scam will go to jail," he added.
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Consumers feeling the heat of rising tender coconut prices in Karnataka
Bengaluru: The cost of tender coconuts has skyrocketed in Karnataka, with retail prices now ranging between Rs 50 and Rs 60 per coconut. In parts of North India, prices have even touched Rs 80 to Rs 100. This price hike is reportedly attributed to a combination of extreme temperatures in Northern India and lower yields in Karnataka, which has been facing its own heatwave.
Maddur, the largest market for tender coconuts in India, has seen average wholesale prices fluctuating between Rs 38 and Rs 50 per coconut over the past three months. Retail prices are higher and depend upon distance from key markets such as Davangere, Tumakuru, Mandya, Hassan, and others as reported by Deccan Herald on Saturday.
During June and July of this year, tender coconuts were available for around Rs 35 in Karnataka, the country's leading coconut producer. However, prices have spiked due to a variety of factors. According to the state government's online agriculture marketing information website, Krishi Marata Vahini, wholesale prices have risen by at least Rs 10,000 per 1,000 coconuts compared to last year.
V. Rajannab, Deputy Director of the Tumakuru APMC Yard, attributed the supply disruption to the "heatwave conditions of the summer of 2024," explaining that farmers could harvest only 30% to 40% of their expected yield. He told the news outlet that the increased demand from North Indian states has further driven up prices in the local market. Nearly 60% of Karnataka's tender coconuts are shipped to North India, with states like Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat now seeking supplies, he added.
Officials from the horticulture department have suggested that the high price of ball copra could also have impacted the supply of tender coconut. “The price of ball copra has more than doubled in the last three months, going from Rs 8,000 to Rs 18,000 a tonne. There is a general feeling that the price could go further high, which is why most of the farmers are not harvesting tender coconuts,” Horticulture Deputy Director Kadiregowda was quoted as saying by DH.
However, there is some hope for price relief in the near future. With copious rains this monsoon, the yield is anticipated to improve, which could further help stabilise the market and bring prices down in the coming weeks.
